20 THE SNOWDROP 



though it does not disdain to vary its diet by occasional 

 raids on the poultry of the villagers. 



VI 



There is no more constant timekeeper than the snow- 

 The snow- drop. It seems constitutionally insensible of 

 drop temperature; for, although hard frost may 



retard the blossoms by making the ground like iron, 

 through which they cannot be thrust, they make their 

 appearance simultaneously with a thaw. On the other 

 hand, this curious little plant will not respond to 

 abnormal warmth, natural or applied. You may 

 coddle the bulbs in pots, and put them in a warm 

 frame with crocus, hyacinth, narcissus, and lily of the 

 valley, these last will reward you by anticipating their 

 natural season by many weeks. Not so the snowdrop; 

 unless the ground outside be really frost-bound, the 

 protected flowers will keep exact pace with those in 

 the lawn turf. The present winter (1897-8) has been 

 unusually mild, yet the first snowdrops have appeared 

 just at the usual time between Christmas and the New 

 Year. That is their constant date in the mild west 

 near the sea. On the east coast and in the London 

 district, snowdrops will not be seen till a full month 

 later. 



Botanists do not admit the snowdrop as a true native 

 of Britain. From the Caucasus to Central Germany, 

 they say, is its legitimate range ; but there is no pretty 

 weed which has established itself more firmly as a 

 British colonist, in those districts, at least, where soil 



